Roles have been reversed, in complete defiance of the EPC

Reference: The tail wagging the dog

Summary: The profound absurdity of today's EPO, where one person controls everything and retaliates against anyone with the authority to express criticism, has been made even more apparent

IT was almost exactly 3 days ago when we first published information about the new person in charge of the EPO's Boards of Appeal (confirmed later by German media). 2 days after Techrights the EPO itself mentioned what we had reported, stating that (warning: epo.org link) "Carl Josefsson currently serves as Senior Judge of Appeal at the Svea Court of Appeal in Stockholm and was jointly proposed by the President of the EPO and the AC`s Board of Appeals Committee. He will take up this new role with effect from 1 March 2017. The post of President of the Boards of Appeal is an entirely new position. The appointment is for a period of five years and the incumbent may be reappointed."

The EPO also said: "In addition to the appointment of the BoA President, the Administrative Council approved the choice of Haar, Munich, as the new location for the Boards of Appeal Unit. The move to Haar's 8inOne building is scheduled for summer 2017 and will involve over 200 staff of the Boards who currently work in the Isar building of the EPO."

Having posted the results of the AC (Administrative Council) vote on the move to Haar at around the same time as the above [1, 2] (also two days ahead of the EPO), it's now the EPO's turn to distract from all the negative publicity by saying: "You have until 9 January to sign up for judicial internships at the EPO boards of appeal! http://buzz.mw/b1owx_f"

Who needs full-time staff anyway, right? Especially considering the fact that the boards have been grossly understaffed for years...

The attack on these boards basically carries on and "one has to wonder why there is an AC at all," wrote this one person. To quote the comment in full:

What a disaster! What chance reversing the proposed fee increases for appeals?

If changes such as this can be waved through by the AC, despite being totally contrary to the wishes of the users (and all common sense), then one has to wonder why there is an AC at all. If Monsieur le President can always get the AC to rubber-stamp his proposals (no matter how insane), then why not cut costs by getting rid of the requirement for their approval?

And still no attention from the mainstream media... especially in Germany. Looks like the AC is not the only thing that BB controls!

This complete lack of coverage is a subject we have been writing more and more about over the past month.

The EPO's PR team (even peripheral PR people) have effectively silenced the German media while serious crimes (by German law) are conducted by Battistelli and his thugs on German soil. Yet another person asked: "Are we going to see the EPO pay for the installation of a lift at the Haar S-bahn station to allow representatives in wheel chairs to reach the new building?" Another person wrote:

Any news on the suspended member of the Boards of Appeal?

And has Battistelli suffered any consequences for having blatantly disregarded a direct order from the AC? Or, for that matter, for having interfered with the independence of the Boards of Appeal?

The EPO becomes a more defunct place by the day, with the AC having lost its independence, much like the Boards of Appeal. All they have is pretense now, or the mere perception of separation of powers. ⬆